Zias drop South match to ACU in five games

October 2, 2004

PNT Staff

ABILENE, Texas — The Eastern New Mexico University volleyball team has put together an outstanding record the last two years in fifth games — until this weekend.
The Zias dropped their second consecutive five-gamer to open Lone Star Conference South Division play, losing on Saturday to Abilene Christian 30-27, 25-30, 30-18, 27-30, 15-6.
ENMU (12-5, 0-2 South) lost in five games on Thursday night at Angelo State after winning 10 of its 11 previous five-game matches dating to the start of last season.
Junior outside hitter Michelle Bernhardt led a strong hitting attack for the Wildcats (16-5, 2-0) with 25 kills. Five players were in double figures in kills for ACU, which had an edge of 81-46 in that department.
Bernhardt also contributed 23 digs and four block assists for the Wildcats.
Meantime, only senior Anna Bellum reached double figures in kills for the Zias with 17. Bellum also had a team-high 17 digs.

Cross country — Running against stiff competition, the ENMU men finished 20th out of 21 teams while the women were last out of 18 squads in the university division of the OSU Jamboree on Saturday at Stillwater, Okla., hosted by Oklahoma State University.
Arkansas won the men’s division with 47 points to 59 for host Oklahoma State and 81 for Abilene Christian. The Greyhounds finished with 540 points, ahead of Friends (Kan.) with 669.
The Hounds were without sophomore Orlando Hernandez, their top runner, who has been recuperating from pneumonia.
In women’s competition, Texas Tech to 84 points for Georgetown and 106 for Texas A&M. The Zias had 551 team points, three behind Friends.
ENMU opted to run in the university division as opposed to the college-junior college division of the meet.
“All the kids ran personal bests for the year,” ENMU coach Joel McMullen said. “We weren’t worried about where our teams placed. We just wanted to improve, and I was proud of the way everybody ran.”
Top runners for Eastern were junior Patrick McGuire, 112th in 27 minutes, 15 seconds over eight kilometers for the Hounds, and junior Lynnae Chavez, 124th in 21:53 over 5K for the Zias.